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I was browsing meta.Christianity.SE recently when I noticed a question with a rather obvious (and good) answer that had not been posted. I was about to go ahead and answer it when I realized there might be a serious problem: by helping them out, we are in fact promoting that religion (or at minimum helping them promote their religion).

So is that indeed a problem?

Is it still a problem if that answer would put their religion in a bad light?

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yydl
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    How are you promoting their religion with an answer that puts it in a bad light? – Gershon Gold Sep 08 '11 at 17:48
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    @Gershon well you're still helping them, even if it's in some negligible way – yydl Sep 08 '11 at 18:03
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    I'd answer this question by looking up any teshuvot regarding entering an online church. – avi Sep 08 '11 at 19:03
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    @avi FWIW, they claim vociferously to be "not a church," but a secular site. – Isaac Moses Sep 08 '11 at 19:20
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    @Isaac Moses Fair point. I guess then the question to me is: Is answering a question on that site similar to giving a gift to an idolater close to their holiday? – avi Sep 08 '11 at 20:06
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    @avi Not quite a gift. This has the potential to help others in their religion (like giving a cross) – yydl Sep 08 '11 at 20:15
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    @avi I'm not sure exactly which parallel makes sense. In any case, no matter what they claim, the Halachic analysis could well differ in definitions and conclusion. – Isaac Moses Sep 08 '11 at 20:32
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    I'd say that an active or semi-active user on the site is a gift. – avi Sep 08 '11 at 21:09
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    Not an answer, but a similar case worth considering: proposing and promoting a site feature that would be explicitly mutually beneficial to J.SE, C.SE, and a few other specific SE sites. – Isaac Moses Sep 08 '11 at 21:48
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    Why try to write to the blind? I tried once, and it was not well received. I was once Christian and understand how they are thinking. I'm still among the goyim so for me I would not be a big issue. As a ger I would be careful having contact with any contact with any other religions. If the internet were invented 500 years ago, during the Inquisition, would you have asked the same question then? – Ben Sep 27 '12 at 00:10
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    I think the best cure of the antisemitism is helping the christians to discover the jewish light in their books – Wlanez Dec 18 '12 at 04:19
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    As a member of the Christianity.SE site, I would say that EVERYONE is welcome, as long as they stick to the rules and make questions related to Christianity. edit- to respond to some of the comments. The point of an SE site is to help people answer questions they have about a topic, not to promote that topic. edit 2- also, this question should probably be on the Judaism meta site instead of the main site – DForck42 Sep 08 '11 at 21:27
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    DForck42, Welcome to Judaism.SE, and thanks very much for sharing your perspective on this question! To be honest, a major reason that I choose to be involved with Judaism.SE is that I see it as a tool for advancing the knowledge and practice of Judaism. Not promoting it to people who aren't already Jewish, but certainly facilitating and encouraging more and better knowledge and practice by those who are. As such, I see the work done here as religiously valuable. I'd be surprised if at least some people on Christianity.SE didn't feel similarly about that site. – Isaac Moses Sep 08 '11 at 21:34
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    Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/31216/472 – Monica Cellio Dec 30 '14 at 03:26
  • Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1583 – Fred Dec 31 '15 at 22:01

1 Answers1

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It's important to highlight that Christianity StackExchange has a very different atmosphere to Mi Yodeya. Christianity SE is very much true to its mission of being a Q&A site about Christianity. It is not a Christian site. And that post on meta isn't just a claim. It's lived up to throughout the site. In fact, it was recently brought up again in discussion of the design theme.

Just a heads up, we aren't a church and don't want to look/feel like one. In fact I think some visual clues that this is a secular QnA site with topic/theme of Christianity would be welcome.

and

I'm saying the idea is that we are not a Christian site. We're on the outside looking in, not on the inside trying to reach out like church and "Christian" sites do.

Bearing that in mind, asking a question about Christianity, or indeed answering a question on the subject of Christianity should probably not necessarily be seen to count as aiding Christianity in any way.

Analysis of Jewish legal reasoning in this situation I will leave to others, I just wanted to clarify what the situation actually is.

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    Indeed, while everything you wrote may be true, it may still be a problem from a Judaism perspective (like you indicate at the end of your answer). – yydl Sep 27 '12 at 01:09
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    Ironically, the overt Christianity site might be more permissible because of those claims than one that doesn't take a strong stance and/or allows doctrine-based contributions. – Monica Cellio Dec 30 '14 at 03:31